Cumulonimbus Clouds (Cb)

Views1.jpg to Views3.jpg shows an extended Cumulonimbus system. The pilot bravely navigated at first right into the anvil field and then directly into the tower region. The cruising altitude was 11.2 km and the outside temperature -54 deg C. At the altitude of 8 km the temperature was at -24 deg C. That means that the icing of under-cooled droplets occurred in this region. Therefore in Views10.jpg a Cumulonimbus calvus is shown which momentarily ices up at the top. Parts of the anvil are presented by Views12.jpg and Views14.jpg to Views16.jpg.

Views17.jpg to Views20.jpg displays the chaotic structures of such mesoscale cloud systems. Here the convective cells can be clearly noticed. The horizontal distance which was covered within the seven minutes with a cruising speed of 860 km/h was approximately 100 km long. So this cloud system has a mesoscale extent. The turbulences which could be felt inside the aircraft and could be seen at the vibrations of the wings were remarkable.

Views1.jpg to Views20.jpg: S. Borrmann, flight Varig RG2375 from Fortaleza to Sao Paulo in Brazil, late afternoon of the 2 March 2004 between 5:20 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

Camera Parameters

Olympus E-1 SLR using a 14-54 mm objective. Exposure and ASA selectivity choice (100 ASA) was performed by the program automation of the camera. The images were taken in the sRGB colour range with a resolution of 2560 x 1920 Pixel x 24 colours.

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5:21:16 p.m.

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5:21:24 p.m.

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5:22:33 p.m.

7.1

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5:22:46 p.m.

7.1

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5:22:52 p.m.

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5:22:55 p.m.

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5:23:02 p.m.

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5:23:09 p.m.

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5:23:32 p.m.

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5:23:56 p.m.

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5:24:04 p.m.

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5:24:11 p.m.

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5:24:32 p.m.

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5:24:50 p.m.

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5:25:11 p.m.

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5:25:45 p.m.

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5:26:08 p.m.

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5:26:27 p.m.

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5:27:14 p.m.